The Two Types of Headlines That Gets 37% More Clicks

Your headline can do two things: It can invite people to read your blog or it can push them away.

According to Elna Cain of Optinmonster, the first thing a person is going to read on your sales page will be your headline.This means that it should pique the interest of the reader or you’ll end up losing a sale.

In fact, a simple tweak in your headline can increase your sales. This is what Neil Patel did in Kissmetrics and he managed to increase his conversions to 40% with just a mere tweak.

So how can you create a good headline?

In my experience, there are two types of headlines that gets the most clicks.

1: A Very Specific Benefit-Based Headline
2: A Loss-Focused Headline

Let me show you the difference between the two.

A Very Specific Benefit-Based Headline

A Very Specific Benefit-Based Headline focuses on how you can solve your prospect’s problems.

Here are some examples of benefit-based headlines:

This is a headline for Derek Halpern’s product at AppSumo. It has a clear benefit – generate 13,000 leads and a specific number (13,000). The bonus is the timeline (less than a year).

Another interesting headline comes from Quicksprout’s HelloBar. This is the perfect example of a benefit driven headline for it has a specific number (30% and 60 days). It also has a clear timeline.

Then, there is also Brian Dean’s case studies that always have powerful headlines – it has the benefit, number and timeline.

A very specific benefit-based headline has two elements and a bonus

1. Benefit

Here’s the deal. 99% of people who will visit your salespage will ask the question “What’s in it for me?”

Your headline should be able to answer that question.

How? By stating the main benefit of your offer in a very specific manner.

When coming up with your benefit for your headline, think about the what will happen when people read your content. Will they get better conversions? Increased sales? Will they learn how to build muscle and lose fat? Will they become 3x more productive? Include that in your headline.

2. A Very Specific Number

Also, you should also include a very specific number in your headline.

Specific numbers work because that is just how people are psychologically programmed to react.

According to the survey by Dan Shay from Ohio State University where he asked

Which claim is more believable?
60% of US households recycle regularly, or
60.37% of US households recycle regularly.

Result says that 78% of people said that the second claim is more believable. Why? It’s because it is an exact number.

This shows that people are just programmed to react more positively to exact numbers.

BONUS: A Specific Timeline

Also, you can double the power of your headline by including a specific timeline. People are always attracted to actionable advice. A timeline shows that what you are teaching can be implemented in a specific time.

A Loss-Focused Headline

A Loss-Focused Headline, on the other hand, focuses on fear.

Instead of presenting how you can solve a problem, you show your client how much he has to lose by not hiring you.

One was sent with the title: “When is the perfect time for a meeting, client call or webinar?”

And another was sent with the title: “When is the worst time for a meeting, client call or a webinar?”

Guess which won.

The loss-focused headline gained 35% more clicks than the benefit-based headline.

Now, this will not work in the same way in every niche. In some niches, a benefit-based headline may be better. This is what Michael Aagaard discovered where he found that having a benefit-based headline increased his conversion by 41.14% while a loss-focused headline only increased his conversion by 11.03%.

Here are some examples of Loss-Focused Headlines:

The keyword is loss. And in this headline, the fact of losing sales is highlighted.

In this headline, the idea of loss is in the word ‘abandoned’ but it also added a benefit tweak by showing what the tool can do – make 15% more sales.

Recap:

There are two types of headlines that gets clicks: a very specific benefit-based headline and a loss-focused headline.

A very specific benefit-based headline focuses on how you can solve a problem and provide a specific number to back up your claim.

A loss-focused headline focuses on what your potential client has to lose from not taking action.

STOP: Now it is time to create your headline. Get your creative juices flowing and craft some headlines in the next 4 hours.

This is interesting. I really never thought of using headlines in this manner. I think the media and a lot of clickbait does this. When you think about it, anything that makes a person ask the question themselves or just question something about them in general will gain a click. It is like social media, you want to make it all about the person reading it. Makes a lot of sense when you think of it like that!

Really very informative article..Explained in details how you can attract a bunch of users towards your website using two types of headlines in blog or article. After reading this blog I implemented these things on my blog and I feel, I am going to benefit with these strategy.